Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => DIY => Skip Bike and Bodge It => Topic started by: BucksBrompton on 16 April, 2012, 03:45:13 pm
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I'll have to stop having a nose over the wall when I take stuff to my local council recycling centre!. This morning I had a few metal odds & ends to get rid or, there on top of the pile was a decent looking Dawes Countryman, including rack & brooks saddle. From what I gather they are a good old bike. I enquired as to what will happen to it. Basically when it is added to the pile, thats it. Its crushed/recycled. A damn waste. I have spotted similar bikes there before. I'm sure the owner could have got money for it, or give it away if they dont want the hassle!. No point to this post at all, but this kind of thing does annoy me!
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Big old proto-MTB type thing was it?
Friend of mine has one of those, it's got the widest handlebars going. Some wheelbase, swear it's about nine feet long.
Rides more like a barge than a bike. I like it.
Like this:
(http://img1.jpegbay.com/gallery/000592111/1_f.jpg)
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Certainly a waste of a good bike. I could've made a top snow bike out of that.
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Yes, one of those. Big beast, but interesting..
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When I was a teenager in the 70s we just used to bowl up to scrapyards and they'd let us wander round and clamber over teetering piles of stuff in search of bikes and bike bits. My mate got an only slightly incomplete and battered Holdsworth that way.
I don't think that would be allowed these days.
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Until recently Bucks recycling centres were open to offers for 'stuff'.
Which is why one of the fleet is known as the 'tip bike' (a £10 bargain bought for the thumb shifters alone but rebuiilt into a hack /commuting bike - with a nice pair of sachs New Success hubbed and Wolber 'titanium light' rimmed wheels bought for £1.50 for the pair) ;D
But recent changes to the contractor who runs the recyling centres means they are now not allowed to sell anything from the site, which is a shame given that the whole premise is supposed to be about recycling.
But of course, if you're shameless enough, should you see someone about to tip something desirable, if you ask them before they put it in the big skip there's nothing the staff can do to stop you.
My inner womble outweighs any sense of embarrassment... ;D
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Unfortunately BSOs have become valuable for the metal content, probably has something to do with the decision.
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It also annoys me.
I was @ my local recycling centre a couple of yrs ago and as I was pulling out of the centre this couple gave away 2 decent looking hybrids to the centre staff which as far as i could were thrown into a skip.
What a waste >:(
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Certainly a waste of a good bike. I could've made a top snow bike out of that.
Yeah. Excellent basis for a pub/winter/leisurely ride/shopping/etc (i.e. damned useful) bike. And 531 frame!
A crime to crush that.
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Especially since it would've sold pretty easily.
My friend paid £60, it's too big for her- there's about an inch of seatpost showing, not even real seatpost- just the bit that starts to narrow at the top. It gets her to work OK- it's not far, but too far to walk for a couple of hours of cleaning in the morning. I think she could sell it for the same price or more later. She was given a small folding bike with a 3-speed hub recently but I think she prefers the Dawes- probably because it scares potholes and bumps out of it's path.
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Common sense has prevailed. Probably not for long, as the jobsworths will put a stop to it soon no doubt. An enterprising individual has set up a stand on some land outside the recycling centre (formerly known as a tip). He buys interesting things such as bikes etc for a small fee, from those on their way there. Then resells with a reasonable markup. So he would most probably have bought the bike in the picture for £20. Sold it for £50. everyones a winner!
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I dread to think how many classics and quality bikes have gone to be weighed in.
I saw an old Raleigh in the skip at our local centre. Couldn't tell what it was, but could see the Reynolds decal.
I asked the guy if I could dig it out, and he refused.
I waved a £10 note under his nose, and he said it was more than his job was worth to let me climb into the skip.
Bet he dug it out after I had gone.
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the recycling centre (formerly known as a tip)
That made me laugh :D
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FWIW I think thismis a scandal. I recently collected six bikes from. Members of my running club and they went to Re-Cycle, which sends them to Africa where they are done up by local labour (creates jobs) and then go the people who need the,. Like, for instance, a farmer or someone who neds a bike to get to school. What they get around on is amazing and we chuck away much better stuff for no reason. Grrrrrrrrrr.
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In the recycle point in Bury St Edmunds they have an empty container. Employees dig out stuff which is valueable and pop it in the container. You can buy stuff from them. Others have got to know about this and pop stuff which may be wanted by others.
Like others have said public are not allowed to enter recycle containers. One time when I was there I saw a guy wheel two Peugeot bikes into the metal container and before any employees saw me I nipped in and put them in my estate.
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Big old proto-MTB type thing was it?
Friend of mine has one of those, it's got the widest handlebars going. Some wheelbase, swear it's about nine feet long.
Rides more like a barge than a bike. I like it.
Like this:
(http://img1.jpegbay.com/gallery/000592111/1_f.jpg)
Lovely. Reminds me of my first ever new bike (paid for with a summer's earnings and lots of blood, sweat and tears (it was an abattoir)) - a Dawes Wildcat. Bright yellow and came with the now forgotten "Biopace" system.
I'm not sure if it's just the effects of nostalgia but I recall it to be a wonderful ride.
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Lovely. Reminds me of my first ever new bike (paid for with a summer's earnings and lots of blood, sweat and tears (it was an abattoir)) - a Dawes Wildcat. Bright yellow and came with the now forgotten "Biopace" system.
I'm not sure if it's just the effects of nostalgia but I recall it to be a wonderful ride.
Could be a Countryman for sale as my friend wants to look for something else. Needs a new rear mech, possibly a tweak of the mech hanger (haven't looked at it myself yet but the mech is no longer attached so not rideable). Of course it has very long horizontal dropouts- fixed retro fat bike? It is almost exactly the same as the one in the photo- same rack even.
My first ever new bike bought with my own money had Biopace. It was wicked, the gears were so low it was silly- you could get the front wheel up in the air sooo easy.
Not so with the Dawes Countryman. It probably weighs more than a Boris bike.
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Staff at your recycling centre are on bonuses for hitting recycling rates. If you remove stuff from a recycling bin the rate drops and so does their bonus. (That's a version given to me by Mrs C who knows about these things).
Mrs C is nervous about me going to recycling centres as I often come back with a 'new' bike.
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Do i see a possible 531 bike?
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You see a 531 bike.
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the recycling centre (formerly known as a tip)
That made me laugh :D
Some years ago, In Weston-upon-Mud, the council renamed the 'tip' the 'CAP' which they said meant 'Civic Amenity Park' ::-)
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Big old proto-MTB type thing was it?
Friend of mine has one of those, it's got the widest handlebars going. Some wheelbase, swear it's about nine feet long.
Rides more like a barge than a bike. I like it.
Like this:
(http://img1.jpegbay.com/gallery/000592111/1_f.jpg)
This thread and the "MTB to road conversions" thread are making me want a bike like that now. I love the idea of an mtb that you can ride without getting covered in mud and shit.
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My old (1998 vintage) Kona now has a rack, mudguards, & semi-slicks. Great towpath/rough lanes/non-technical tracks bike. I'll ride it to a nice country pub not too far away (no more than 40 miles round trip) tomorrow, with Mrs B on her MTB. :thumbsup:
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Big old proto-MTB type thing was it?
Friend of mine has one of those, it's got the widest handlebars going. Some wheelbase, swear it's about nine feet long.
Rides more like a barge than a bike. I like it.
Like this:
(http://img1.jpegbay.com/gallery/000592111/1_f.jpg)
This thread and the "MTB to road conversions" thread are making me want a bike like that now. I love the idea of an mtb that you can ride without getting covered in mud and shit.
Looks rather like a thorn sherpa, without the considerably higher price tag
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Could be a Countryman for sale as my friend wants to look for something else. Needs a new rear mech, possibly a tweak of the mech hanger (haven't looked at it myself yet but the mech is no longer attached so not rideable). Of course it has very long horizontal dropouts- fixed retro fat bike? It is almost exactly the same as the one in the photo- same rack even.
Definitely for sale, would be collection only from Watford and still in condition as above. If anyone is interested I can take some pictures (it's not my bike but it is stored only a few streets away) and find out some details of the bits attached and general condition.
Will later post in 'for sale'.
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I was at our local tip a few weeks ago and was told that the staff weren't allowed into the bins because of the elf's, who also recently fitted CCTV for their safety. So they couldn't even go in there to repack/re-stack the waste when say a big pine table - that would have suited our kitchen to a tee - was taking up too much room in the bin. He said that they get hassled by the elfs when they climb into the paper/cardboard bins trying to make room for the weekend busy time.
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An old Dawes Countryman could be suitable for a hub gear conversion, with its semi-horizontal dropouts. Stick a pair of sturdy road tyres on it, & you have an excellent urban commuter of the pothole-scorning kind, or a bike suitable for badly maintained country lanes in or after filthy weather.
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Similar sort of thing appeared on my 'local bikes' auto search on eBay today.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dawes-Nomad-gents-mountain-bike-/331101502557?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:3160
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I bought myself a Dawes Wildcat back in 1987 and rode it to Switzerland, laden with tent and stuff for two weeks. Fab bike, sorry to have parted with it. But I do now have a roadified 1989 Rockhopper Comp with mudguards and lovely biopace chainrings.
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I was at our local tip a few weeks ago and was told that the staff weren't allowed into the bins because of the elf's, who also recently fitted CCTV for their safety. So they couldn't even go in there to repack/re-stack the waste when say a big pine table - that would have suited our kitchen to a tee - was taking up too much room in the bin. He said that they get hassled by the elfs when they climb into the paper/cardboard bins trying to make room for the weekend busy time.
It's not always to do with safety either,
While taking some things to the tip with my girlfriend she noticed that one of the operators had stacked a pile of things by their shed, she took a fancy to one of the jugs there and offered the chap a few quid, his response was "sorry but someone has a contract to collect that stuff". The week before a different chap took the cash and handed over the goods.
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Assuming that is the Horsley tip, that's been going on for 20 years to my knowledge.
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I was at our local tip a few weeks ago and was told that the staff weren't allowed into the bins because of the elf's, who also recently fitted CCTV for their safety. So they couldn't even go in there to repack/re-stack the waste when say a big pine table - that would have suited our kitchen to a tee - was taking up too much room in the bin. He said that they get hassled by the elfs when they climb into the paper/cardboard bins trying to make room for the weekend busy time.
IIRC all North Yorks Household Waste Recycling sites now have the same rule.
Apart from they, also, have a rule that says the wagon drivers can bung them a few quid for pre-arranged items, hence why you will see a pile of bikes in one corner of every NYCC dump (I found this out via a couple of conversations I had, one with one of those wagon drivers who claimed to have 5 garages full of bikes of all shapes and sizes!)